Virtual Teacher Newsletter No. 18 November 10th 2000
THE FREE ONLINE FORTNIGHTLY IT TEACHERS' NEWSLETTER
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CONTENTS
1. Welcome
2. Mind Candy
3. Webquests
4. New Printables - Test
5. Technical Stuff - Mac Sites
6. Science
7. Bloom's Taxonomy and Mind Mapping
8. Great Sites
9. Readers' Requests/Comments
10 Next Issue
11. Code of 'Netizens'
12. Tips
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1. Welcome everyone. Time flies, and it has flown again these last 2
weeks. 'Live with Enthusiasm, is an old chestnut I have had for
years. Every now and then it resurfaces at just the right time and
is just the ticket to put things back into perspective. I hope you
enjoy it. The webquest sites sent in by Rosemary, below, are
excellent, make sure you click over to her site and check them out,
its well worth the time. Have a great fortnight and be kind to
yourself and treat yourself to something special.
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2. Mind Candy
Whenever I reflect upon the events of the 1788, I
feel thankful that I wasn't on the First Fleet.
Mainly because I'd be dead now.
quoted with liberal license from David Gunter
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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
- Aristotle
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An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs
against it.
- Bill Bernbach
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Imagination rules the world
- Napoleon Bonaparte
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When you're through changing, you're through.
- Bruce Barton
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Live with Enthusiasm - Samuel Ullman
Is one of my favourites, here's the beginning, click below for the
rest - enjoy.
Youth is not a time of life. It's a state of mind. It's a temper of
the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigour of the emotions, a
predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure
over love of ease.
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/enthus.html
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3. Webquests
Rosemary has some fantastic resources at the sites listed below. The
sites are most comprehensive dealing with both Primary and secondary
levels. This site is well worth a look but it will take you quite a
time to explore all these wonderful links - I spent 2 hours on it
last night and there is still much more to see. Well done Rosemary,
these types of resources are exactly what is needed.
Cathy,
I enjoy your newsletter. You and your readers may be interested in
my pages on WebQuests and Online Research projects
http://www.students.trinity.wa.edu.au/library/teaching/educ/webquests.htm
and Collaborative projects
http://www.students.trinity.wa.edu.au/library/teaching/educ/collab.htm
Cheers
Rosemary Horton
Librarian
P.L. Duffy Resource Centre
Trinity College
EAST PERTH WA
HortonR@trinity.wa.edu.au
http://www.trinity.wa.edu.au
then click Library
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4. New Printables 
Computer/Technology Test/ Worksample. Here is a 2 page test/worksample
on computers. The file is in pdf format so can be read using the
free acrobat reader.
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/test.pdf
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5. Technical Stuff
Here's some heavy duty IT Mac sites.
This is a fantastic site that keeps track of all the updates on
software for Macs.
http://www.versiontracker.com/
Here's another great site for Mac's - it deal with troubleshooting solutions.
http://www.macfixit.com
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6. Science
The New Jersey Networking Infrastructure in Education Resource page
lists some of the finest projects and lesson ideas created for K-12
science education.
http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/
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7. Bloom's Taxonomy and Mind Mapping
These two learning systems have been mentioned frequently in recent
months. They are great for teaching thinking skills and are fun to
use in the primary classroom. I think they provide down to earth
approaches to teaching thinking in much the same way as text types do
for writing. Try them out the children will love them.
Teaching Using Bloom's Taxonomy
http://www.kent.wednet.edu/KSD/MA/resources/blooms/teachers_blooms.html
Bloom's Taxonomy Model Questions and Key words
http://www.utexas.edu/student/lsc/handouts/1414.html
Learning Skills - bloom's taxonomy
http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learn/program/hndouts/bloom.html
Mind Mapping FAQ
http://world.std.com/~emagic/mindmap.html
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8. Great Sites
Enchanted Learning is a great site - I reviewed it before. There are
now 2 new sections
Great inventors
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/indexa.shtml
and Great Explorers
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/
These are fantastics sites and can be explored via timeline or alphabetically.
Creativity Web
Here's a great site for students and teachers as well, lots of
fantastic ideas, including quotations, mind mapping, creativity kick
starts, the brain, and humour
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~caveman/Creative/index2.html
Australian History Site - a great collection of resources.
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~rchaffer/
Australian Explorers
http://www.davidreilly.com/australian_explorers/
More Australian Explorers
http://isl.ira.uka.de/~westphal/australia/explore/index.html
http://www.mrdowling.com/
Learn a Language. Currently at this site you can learn Spanish,
French and dutch, with more languages available later. there is an
introductory course and also grammar and vocab pages.
http://home.wanadoo.nl/mvgompel/
Sports Media
This is a fantastic site with information on a vast array of sports.
It includes lesson plans for various age levels and game rules, as
well as pictures and warm - up activities. Activities are indexed
alphabetically making the site very easy to navigate.
http://www.sports-media.org/
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9. Readers Requests/Comments
NSW Premierís History Awards: History Week
Australian Labour History Film Festival
Wollongong City Gallery
14-19 November 2000
Our Working Lives: Australian Labour History Film
Festival
As a special event of History Week, Wollongong City
Gallery is opening up its premier gallery space to
stage a film festival from 14-19 November 2000. The
films and documentaries examine the importance of the
labour movement in Australia in developing
Wollongong ís profile, and celebrates the
interrelationship between industry and society, labour
and community.
Our Working Lives: Australian Labour History Film
Festival is an event of History Week, and coincides
with the prestigious NSW Premierís History Awards,
which will be presented at a special ceremony at
Wollongong City Gallery.
Gallery Address:corner of Kembla and Burelli Streets,
Wollongong
Postal Address: PO Box 696, Wollongong East NSW 2520
Enquiries: Tel +61 2 4228 7500 or Fax +61 2 4226 5530
http://wcg.1earth.net/
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Dear Cathy
Thanks for the review. The children were really excited to hear they had
been mentioned.
New page today about the Clay Pots and tiles we are making as part of a
Ceramics unit.
Best wishes
David
http://homepage.mac.com/davidh8/home.htm
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http://www.usaexplorers.com you might find this site interesting
Rock
This site is about most things US, however there are many excellent
sections and the site is easy to navigate.
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Hi, Cathy--
As a homeschool mom, I enjoy the information your site provides. I thought
you might be interested to know, however, that the Bill Gates quotation in
your recent mailer is incorrectly attributed. Here's some text from
www.snopes.com, a site that keeps track of the validity of widespread
internet "beliefs" and the legends they can spawn:
Rules Kids Won't Learn in School
Curmudgeon Bill Gates penned this popular piece, which leads off with "Life
is not fair. Get used to it."
Status: False.
Neither Bill Gates nor Kurt Vonnegut authored the piece, though both have
been blamed for it. "Rules" was written by Charles J. Sykes.
best,
Janet M. Maloney
Jmmmaloney@aol.com
Thanks for the advise Janet - please pick me up whenever I am wrong,
its good to get the correct info eventually.
The snopes site contains some interesting bits and pieces, including
Halloween, Horror, Sex and Disneyland, so it may not be suitable for
all readers of this newsletter, I enjoyed it immensely.
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10. Next Issue -  I would like to hear from folk who have some
interesting Science sites. Also if you have used the Blooms Taxonomy
or Mind Maps with your class please let me know about your
techniques, and ideas. Additionally I would like to include some new
printables on student records, and setting up templates for collating
and assessing children's progress, as well as proforma school report
templates. I think everyone would be interested in sharing some
ideas about report formats. And it is that time of year again.
I'll also include som great Christmas sites - so send your suggestions
along.
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11. Code of the 'Netizens'
This Newsletter is not free, despite the misleading advertising above.
The Fee is now due. Each week you must help one colleague on the
Internet who has less knowledge than you. Help that person even if
you have to visit their classroom or do a little research and get
back to them. Trust me, this will help a lot of people get their
computer classrooms running better.
OK I'm trusting you!!!
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12. TIPS
1. Double click on highlighted URLS to open in browser.
2. Send in your Questions, Questions will be published with Answers,
send in your Answers, if you have expertise to share.
3. Nominate a brilliant site for review and inclusion in this newsletter.
4. Nominate a fantastic school site for review and inclusion in this
newsletter.
5. Make contact with other schools using fantastic programs.
6. Prepare and innovative article for this newsletter.
7. Tell 2 colleagues about this newsletter.
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The opinions expressed here are purely those of the editor, Cathy
Brown. All other small print clauses apply. Such as: Use at your own
risk. Nothing in life is guaranteed. If it doesn't work for you send
me an email.
Editor: cathy brown mailto:comfilm1@optusnet.com.au
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